H-1B salaries in San Francisco, CA

Based on 51,155 certified H-1B filings in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metro area, FY2025–FY2026. Base salary only.

Median salary$170,000
Middle 50%$135.5k–$207k
vs. national median+39%comparison median $122,699
Filings51,155FY2025–FY2026 · latest two fiscal years

Salary range

Box: middle 50% of filings. Whiskers: 10th–90th percentile. 99% of filings are between $69,548 and $340,000.
PercentileSalary
10th$105,000
25th$135,478
50th (median)$170,000
75th$207,019
90th$242,000

Salary by year

Median salary

$110k $150k $190k FY2020: median $128,856 (34,595 filings) FY2021: median $140,000 (32,580 filings) FY2022: median $146,682 (34,352 filings) FY2023: median $150,000 (27,038 filings) FY2024: median $160,000 (27,045 filings) FY2025: median $165,000 (28,636 filings) FY2026: median $176,000 (22,519 filings) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

Filings per year

FY2020: 34,595 filings FY20 FY2021: 32,580 filings FY21 FY2022: 34,352 filings FY22 FY2023: 27,038 filings FY23 FY2024: 27,045 filings FY24 FY2025: 28,636 filings FY25 FY2026: 22,519 filings FY26 34,595
Shaded: FY2025–FY2026, the years behind the figures above. Median shown for years with at least 10 filings. FY2026 covers Q1–Q3 only.
Show as table
Fiscal yearMedianP25P75Filings
FY2020$128,856$105,872$159,50034,595
FY2021$140,000$115,000$169,56232,580
FY2022$146,682$121,000$180,00034,352
FY2023$150,000$120,000$183,31027,038
FY2024$160,000$126,006$194,25027,045
FY2025$165,000$130,250$200,83528,636
FY2026$176,000$140,000$213,51222,519

Cost of living

San Francisco's median H-1B salary of $170,000 is worth about $147,000 at national average prices.

Fair market rent, 1-bedroom$2,290Per month. Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027 (Oakland-Fremont, CA HUD Metro FMR Area).
Fair market rent, 2-bedroom$2,805Per month. Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027 (Oakland-Fremont, CA HUD Metro FMR Area).
Price level (U.S. = 100)115.6Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.
Price-adjusted median$147,000Median salary ÷ (price level ÷ 100).
State income tax on wagesCA: yesSource: Tax Foundation, State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2025.

Most filed jobs

JobMedianFilings
Software Engineer$189,98717,679
Data Scientist$170,0003,920
Systems Engineer / Architect$155,4053,575
IT Manager$250,0001,849
Research Scientist (Computer Science)$205,0001,412
QA Engineer$141,1151,392
Industrial Engineer$142,2231,187
Mechanical Engineer$149,0681,062
Financial Analyst$160,0001,006
Accountant$121,680962
Operations Research Analyst$148,699919
Programmer Analyst$107,203759
Management Consultant$172,453717
Market Research Analyst$131,150618
Molecular and Cellular Biologist$114,400585

By job title

Product Manager$184k · 1,283 Solutions Architect$181k · 305 Backend Developer$190k · 189 Site Reliability Engineer$186k · 185 Systems Engineer$156.3k · 158 Full Stack Developer$180.5k · 146 Cloud Engineer$169.1k · 142 DevOps Engineer$161.6k · 126 Frontend Developer$190k · 90 Java Developer$135.4k · 86 Salesforce Developer$174.2k · 75 SAP Consultant$135.8k · 44 .NET Developer$161.6k · 21 Python Developer$113.9k · 16 Scrum Master$110.2k · 12

Job titles with at least 10 filings in San Francisco, CA. Figure: median salary · filings.